Roberts: One glimmer of good news in triple tragedy

There was one small (very small) sliver of hope in the gruesome story of the Phoenix mother accused of stabbing her three children to death.

The Arizona Department of Child Safety quickly came forward and admitted it previously had been involved with the family – most recently just two months ago.

Gone (at least for now) are the days when you call DCS after such a horror story and get stonewalled with the old “we can neither confirm nor deny” bit.

Octavia Rene Rogers was arrested on Sunday in suspicion of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of her children: 8-year-old Jaikare Rahaman, 5-year-old Jeremiah Adams and 2-month-old Avery Robinson.

According to court documents released Monday, the woman was found early Thursday in the bathtub of her home, “screaming about the creator and stated she was the creator and wanted to go back to the creator.”

She had cuts to her throat and abdomen.

Police eventually found the three children dead in her bedroom closet, the youngest in a suitcase.

Within 24 hours, DCS acknowledged that it had three prior reports on the family.

The first, in 2010, was a report of a “small abrasion” on the forehead of one of Rogers’ children. Investigators were unable to locate the family.

The second, in 2011, was a report of a marijuana smell coming from the home. DCS offered Rogers services, which she refused.

The third came two months ago, when Avery was born exposed to marijuana. Investigators again referred her for services and she again declined them.

DCS can't take a child away unless caseworkers believe the child is at "imminent risk" of harm.

“There was no reason or legal grounds to take the children into emergency state care,” DCS said. “The case was substantiated and closed.”

Two months later, all three kids are dead.

We’ll have to get the records to know for sure, but it seems unlikely that there is anything DCS could have done to save those children.

That’s important to know.

Too often in past years (read: decades), it’s taken months or years even to find out whether DCS/CPS was involved in a case and if so, whether the agency could have done something differently in order to save a child.

“When a child is murdered, it’s common to ask if something could have been done to prevent such a tragedy,” DCS Director Greg McKay said on Friday, in a prepared release. “At DCS, we ask ourselves those questions because we take the responsibility of protecting children very seriously. But our powers are limited; we cannot predict the future; and people, can at times, do awful things.”

They can. They do.

And it’s why DCS must be forthcoming with the public. When the agency has done everything it could to protect a child.